Designed to last

Architects, with the time they are suddenly finding on their hands as the crisis takes its toll, are turning to drawing up designs for tenders. But isn’t this merely making a virtue out of necessity?Zuzanna Wiak, Emil Górecki, Mladen Petrov A few weeks ago, the Dutch newspaper ‘Algemeen Dagblad’ wrote about the bankruptcy of the Rotterdam-based Eric van Egeraat studio, which had branches in Budapest, Moscow and Prague. Just before the bankruptcy was filed, the studio withdrew from preparing a design for the artificial Federation Island, a multi-purpose complex in the shape of Russia, which was supposed to be built in Sochi for the 2014 Olympics. “The financial crisis is having a big impact on the construction industry and that means on architects too,” comments Izabela Klimaszewska, vice-chairperson of the National Council of the Chamber of Architects in Poland.Bleak prospectsThe architectural studios involved in residential design are the most severely